Laurier arts on the decline

When I was applying to universities four years ago I was told that Laurier had the best arts department in the province. It is partly why I accepted here. 
Since then cutbacks have been forced upon the arts department, which has dramatically changed it in the three years I’ve been here for the worse.

Cost saving measures, like cutting tutorials, were needed because of the downturn in the economy.  Yet the school has let more and more first year students in each year which is obviously generating more money.  They have lowered the standards to accommodate this increase so much that 43 per cent of first years in arts got below a five grade point average in first semester this year.  Dumbing down the student body isn’t exactly the way to maintain the name of Laurier as a top university in Canada.

Further cut backs in the arts ensure they no longer offer third year classes in German and Arabic, so a minor is impossible. They are cutting 10 sociology classes for next year and eliminating French and Spanish tutorials. These moves are making Laurier more of a joke than anything else.

Laurier has been a liberal arts school since it was created, but is trying to branch into fields dominated by UW and for what reason? It’s time for the students of this school to get angry about the way that our school is being managed.
The people who make decisions for the school should make them with the school’s reputation rather than bottom line and expansion in mind.

—Matt Fisher